The survey was conducted by Maagar - Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting Institute Ltd., managed by Professor Yitzhak Katz. It was commissioned by Maariv and Makor Rishon and published on 11 January.

Telephone survey of representative sample of 506 adult Israelis (including Arabs). The survey was carried out 8-9 January 2013.

Do you know who you will vote for in the coming elections?

Yes 67%

No 25%

Refuse reply/not voting 8%

Asked the 25% who haven't decided how they will vote:

What is the main reason you haven't decided?

25% No one to vote for

23% Politics doesn't interest me

17% No value to voting

08% Will decide at the last minute

07% No difference between parties

05% Not familiar with the party platforms

15% Other replies

Party "leaning towards voting for" of the undecided:

09% Likud Beiteinu

11% Labor

07% Livni party (Hatnua)

02% Shas

13% Lapid "Atid" Party

06% Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home/NRP & National Union)

02% Meretz

09% Am Shalem headed by Rabbi Haim Amsalem

08% Koach Lehashpia

33% Refuse reply

If elections held today (expressed in Knesset seats) Current Knesset seats in [brackets].

Please note: There are 120 seats in the Knesset. Parties must receive a minimum of 2% of the valid votes cast in the elections to be included in the Knesset - this comes to 2.4 seats. After elections are held the coalition forming a government must receive 61 votes in a vote of confidence in the Knesset.

In the heart of the storm bearing down on Israel this week, soldiers of the Kfir Brigade's Netzah Yehuda Battalion were called to the Alexander River near Nablus on Tuesday, following a report that a number of Palestinian civilians were caught in the river's floodwaters and were in danger of drowning. The Netzah Yehuda force rescued the three civilians, who then received medical treatment.

"Yesterday around 7:00 p.m., we received a call that there were people stuck in the river's floodwaters. When we reached the site, we saw a number of people stranded in vehicles, including children," said the commander of the supporting company that arrived at the site, Cpt. Adiya Hazani. "We tried to pull them out on foot, but we didn't succeed since they were far from the vehicles and the river had reached a depth of two meters and was rising," he recounted.

With the assistance of a Palestinian civilian at the scene who allowed the force to use his tractor, the soldiers successfully rescued the stranded civilians. "We went in and saw that one car was empty and we carried out a search to verify that nobody had drowned. In other cars there were three people, whom we rescued," Cpt. Hazani said.

The commander recounted that when he and dozens of his soldiers reached the site, the stranded civilians were standing on the roofs of their cars and were in real danger of drowning. "We took them one at a time, together with the Palestinian tractor operator, and they were all frightened," he said. The rescued civilians then received treatment from a medical team of the Menashe Regional Brigade who arrived at the scene.

"I understood that these were people whose lives were in real danger, and I saw that the river's flow was rising and that just minutes would make the difference between life and death," Cpt. Hazani explained. "We took a risk because we were a small number of people under very harsh weather conditions, but there was no other option."

Due to the stormy weather, the forces were also called to other missions, including one in which they rescued a disabled Palestinian civilian who had been stranded in a car and another incident in which they rescued a bus carrying 30 children that was caught in the floodwaters.

The mother "instills in her children the love of Jihad and martyrdom for the sake of Allah," she went on. "If every mother were to prevent her son from waging Jihad for the sake of Allah, who would wage Jihad? Who would support Palestine? Palestine is dear to us, and its price is paid with our body remains and our lifeblood. Is not Allah's reward precious? Allah's reward is Paradise. Paradise requires from us our blood, our body remains, and our efforts for its sake."

Hamas MP Al-Hayya told Al-Hayat newspaper two years ago that "Palestine is Islamic, and not an Islamic emirate, from the river to the sea, that unites the Palestinians. Jews have no right in it, with the exception of those who lived on the land of Palestine before World War I."

The wife of a Hamas member of parliament hailed the role of Palestinian mothers in preparing their children to kill themselves in acts of terrorism against Israel. Encouraging her children to "wage Jihad for the sake of allah" is "the most glorious thing a woman can do," she said.

In an interview on Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV channel, Umm Osama, wife of Hamas MP Khalil Al-Hayya, said that she, her husband and her children all prayed that Allah would grant them martyrdom.

"Women in Palestine play a great role in raising their children and in encouraging them to wage Jihad for the sake of Allah,"she told the Gaza TV channel, in comments broadcast last month and recorded, repostedand transcribed Monday by the MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) watchdog. "This is absolutely the most glorious thing a woman can do. Women play their role and are not inferior to men. When a man goes to wage Jihad, his wife does not say 'Don't go' or try to stop him. She encourages and supports him. She is the one who prepares his equipment, bids him farewell, and welcomes [his Jihad]."

The mother "instills in her children the love of Jihad and martyrdom for the sake of Allah," she went on. "If every mother were to prevent her son from waging Jihad for the sake of Allah, who would wage Jihad? Who would support Palestine? Palestine is dear to us, and its price is paid with our body remains and our lifeblood. Is not Allah's reward precious? Allah's reward is Paradise. Paradise requires from us our blood, our body remains, and our efforts for its sake."

She added: "I am constantly praying: 'Allah, make the end of our days be in martyrdom.' I pray for this even for my husband and my children. None of us want to die in our beds. We pray that Allah will grant us Paradise."

Hamas MP Al-Hayya told Al-Hayat newspaper two years ago that "Palestine is Islamic, and not an Islamic emirate, from the river to the sea, that unites the Palestinians. Jews have no right in it, with the exception of those who lived on the land of Palestine before World War I."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected an Israeli offer to allow Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria to enter the Palestinian territories on condition that they forgo their "right of return" to Israel proper, Abbas told the Egyptian press on Wednesday evening.

Abbas told the press that Mashaal had agreed with Fatah on four key points: The vision of two states  "Palestine on the 1967 borders living side by side with the state of Israel"; reaching that end through negotiations; the adoption of peaceful resistance [to Israel]; and the holding of elections, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Wednesday.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected an Israeli offer to allow Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria to enter the Palestinian territories on condition that they forgo their "right of return" to Israel proper, Abbas told the Egyptian press on Wednesday evening.

Abbas had arrived in Cairo to discuss political reconciliation with his Palestinian rivals, the Hamas terror organization. On Wednesday evening, a high-ranking Fatah delegation headed by Abbas met with a Hamas delegation that included the group's political chief Khaled Mashaal and his deputy Moussa Abu-Marzouq.

Abbas told the press that Mashaal had agreed with Fatah on four key points: The vision of two states  "Palestine on the 1967 borders living side by side with the state of Israel"; reaching that end through negotiations; the adoption of peaceful resistance [to Israel]; and the holding of elections, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Wednesday.

According to Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, Abbas said that he was prepared to visit Hamas-controlled Gaza at any time, adding that the issue "is very much on my mind, and has become more urgent."

“Settled by civilisations spanning some five millennia, Gaza has been built layer-upon-layer since the Bronze Age.

As each era ended, its people left behind remnants of their times – churches, monasteries, palaces and mosques, as well as thousands of precious artefacts.”

Detail from mosaic in 6th century Synagogue from Gaza

So from its very beginning, this article airbrushes out any mention of one group of people who were among the most consistentinhabitants of Gaza, beginning with the Hasmoneans in 145 BCE (long before the religions which built churches, monasteries or mosques were founded) through the Middle Ages and up to1929when, in the wake of the Hebron massacre, the British mandatory authorities ordered the Jews of Gaza to leave.

Israelis, however, do get a mention in this BBC feature. It is, according to the author, because of them that Gaza’s archaeologists have no equipment to take care of the antiquities and cannot attend professional conferences abroad.

“It is not only war that makes her job so hard. Israel strictly controls passage out of Gaza,for what it says are security reasons, and does not allow in machinery and other equipment which it suspects can be used against it by militants.”

“People working here can’t travel for training outside and we are only able to use local tools, which don’t allow us to excavate in a precise manner,” Ms Albetar said.” [emphasis added]

It is also suggested that because of Israel that the people of Gaza have, apparently, little interest in its archaeological treasures.

“Most Gazans are too preoccupied with high unemployment, poor housing and the restrictions on agriculture, fishing and importation to care about ruins and antiquities.”

Of course no real context is given either by the author of this piece or her Hamas-employed interviewees as to why restrictions exist or what steps Hamas might take to reduce the risk to archaeological artifacts by ending its terror war on Israeli civilians. Instead, this article is constructed in such a way as to leave the reader with the impression that Israel alone is to blame for the impending loss of historical treasures.

The reason behind that becomes a little clearer if one stops to take a look at the ideological CV of the article’s author.

Inevitably, Ruqaya Izzidien’s writings on Gaza-related subjects paint context-free, monochrome portraits of helpless Palestinians just trying their best to get along under the yoke of Israeli restrictions, and without any agency of their own. This latest piece for the BBC is no exception.

Does the BBC really think it appropriate to reduce the standard of its reporting even further by providing a platform for the kind of ideologically-motivated polemics which are to be found in abundance on anti-Israel sites such as those which already publish Ms Izzidien’s work?

Derech Haminharot, also known as the Tunnels road, remained closed between Jerusalem and Tzur Hadassah. The road is the main connector between the capital and the Gush Etzion settlement bloc to the southeast.

The Jerusalem municipality decided early Thursday that schools and kindergartens would be closed throughout the capital so as not to endanger students.

School was also canceled in the northern Golan Heights, for all areas north of and including the town of Keshet.

Students in Safed, Maalot Tarshiha, and in the Northern Galilee and Merom HaGalil Regional Councils will be staying home, as well.

In the West Bank, school was canceled in the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, in Elon Moreh, Itamar and Kfar Tapuah, among other areas.

Schools will operate as scheduled in the areas of Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The Education Ministry has opened a situation room to help get information out to parents regarding school closures. The hotline number is (02) 622-2211.

A woman walks her dog on a snow covered street in Jerusalem on Wednesday (photo credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Israel’s biggest storm in 20 years brought freezing temperatures to Jerusalem and parts of northern and central Israel on Wednesday. After days of anticipation, snow began to fall in the capital and the surrounding hills.

The snow is expected to continue into the early afternoon. Egged, the capital’s main bus company, said it would not run its buses in or to Jerusalem, citing dangerous road conditions. It said it would restart service on main roads only at some point before noon.

The city’s light rail will continue to give free rides until 2 p.m. according to operator Citipass.

Elsewhere around the country there was heavy flooding and widespread power outages.

The Sea of Galilee, Israel’s main source of freshwater, rose six centimeters (2.4 inches) on Wednesday, and 60 centimeters (2 feet) since the storm began on Friday, Israel’s Water Authority said.

In Petah Tikva, a fatal bus accident, wheretwo pedestrians were killed, was a frightening reminder of how dangerous road conditions have become in parts of the country.